1/2/07

Lataif-e-Sitta

Lataif-e-Sitta translates as "the Six Subtleties" - six spectrums of awareness, six states of being. Lataif-e-Sitta is a concept Sufis draw from religious texts. The Lataif-e-Sitta are:

1). Nafs - Ego:

The ego is often sourced as the main and most difficult obstacle in spiritual pathways. To overcome the ego (Zul-n-Nafs) is to overcome the self, to repel a self-centered lifestyle, and to focus away from passion, greed, and other desires. By ridding ourselves of the nafs, we find the true self, the unperturbed Ruh-i-Insaan, away from the corruption of the nafs and Earthly desires.

2). Qalb - Heart

The spiritual heart is the crux of love, the gateway of transcendence. Here, two fources are found colliding: the nafs (ego) and the ruh (spirit). Once the nafs is removed, the ruh finds peace and love within the qalb, and strives for transcendence.

3). Ruh - Spirit

The Ruh is the spirit in manking, corrupted by the nafs and ego-self. The Ruh can only be found by purifying the qalb from the nafs with counter-conditioning methods: prayer, meditation, zhikr, etc. It is "the dormant spiritual faculty" and awaits illumination (Tajliyyah-i-Ruh).

4). Sirr - Secret

Sirr, literally translated as "the Secret", is the divine command. It is attained through zhikr (remembrance) of the Divine and awareness of the divine (and not the mundane Earthly attractions). Together, the Ruh and Sirr form the "Ruh-i-Insaan", the Human Soul.

5). Khafi - Latent Subtletly

Khafi represents intuition; the divine intervention of guidance.

6). Akhfa - Obscure Subtletly

Akhfa is also known as "Nuqta-e-Wahida", the point of unity in which revelation may pass. Idries Shah, author of "The Way of the Sufi" and "The Sufis", asserts that this last center "is only accessible to those who have developed the others, and belongs to the real sage."